​     What is the job of the pastor? What does he do every day? A problem arose in the time of the apostles. The church was young. It had just begun. Many came to Jesus by faith. The church in those days started to care for the poor widows that had received Christ. One day the Greek believers began to complain against the Hebrews. Why? Because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. The apostles told the people of the church, “…It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” In other words, they said, “We have an important and great work to do in prayer and in the Word of God. We don’t have time to serve tables.” They later appointed deacons for these services. The work of the pastor is to serve God in prayers and in the study and preaching of the Bible. The word “pastor” means “shepherd”. Don’t forget that Jesus is the Good Shepherd! The pastor could be called the “undershepherd”. The church is the Lord’s flock, and the members of it need spiritual food. It is the work of the pastor to deliver this spiritual food from God’s Word to the believers. Jesus told Peter, “Feed my sheep”! If the sheep are not fed well, they will grow weak and sick. Don’t forget the enemy of the sheep! The wolf! Satan is the enemy of God’s flock. The pastor, through spiritual prayer, serves God in the battle against the enemy. The apostles said, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Amen!

​     These words are found at the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. He, closing the letter, said to them, “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus…”. Now, first of all, what is a saint? Many have learned wrongly from the orthodox, catholics, or simply the dictionary, because there is a great misunderstanding about the definition of this word. Many believe that a “saint” is the one who is declared a saint by the church. This misunderstanding comes from the traditions of men, not the Bible. According to the Bible, a saint is he or she that has repented of sins and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. In short, every believer is a saint, because we are washed in the Blood of Christ. Our position before God is holy. How? Because we are in Christ by faith. That’s why Paul said: “…every saint in Christ Jesus…”. We are holy in Christ. Now, secondly, Paul told the Philippians, “Salute every saint…”. In the Bible, the verb “salute” has a warmer meaning. Today, “to salute” or greet means to shake someone’s hand, or to address them with kind wishes. The Biblical meaning is a little deeper. Here, “to salute” means to “enfold in the arms; to hug”. This gives us an example of the warmth of Christian love. I don’t mean that we should hug everyone! Sometimes hugs can be very impolite and even rude, especially between men and women. I simply mean the warmth of heart that we feel toward each other. May this love be found in our church!

​     Daniel was in a strange place. A renown king from far away came with his armies and conquered the land of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon was a terror to all who withstood him. Daniel was raised in Israel in the culture of the Jews, but after Jerusalem was defeated, Ashpenazi, prince of the eunuchs was commanded by the king to take all the goodly and intelligent young men to Babylon to serve the king. Daniel was in Babylon, far away from family, learning a new language and a completely different culture, but noticed what happened with this young man. God blessed him even in slavery. The verse says: “Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of eunuchs.” Why? Because even in slavery Daniel was faithful to God. What can we learn from this verse? Answer: Don’t look at the problem, look at God! God can bless you right where you are. Today you must decide: Are you going to complain about everything? Or, will you look at life in a more positive way, understanding that God is the Source of blessings; understanding also that the problems of life are working for us, to make us more like Christ. This should be the purpose of every believer.

     Sodom, the famous city of old. We view it as a deep, dark, sinful abyss that we want nothing to do with. Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities that God destroyed because of their great iniquity. We tend to think that the sins of Sodom could never be seen in us. “I would never go that far”, says the fool. What was the sin of Sodom? Of course, we hear about sodomy, the sin of unnatural affection between two men, or two women. Sodomy may have been one of the surface sins, but here the prophet Ezekiel tells Israel what the base or root sins were, namely, “…pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness…”. We know from Proverbs chapter 6 that a proud look is something God hates. Yes, pride is sin! Pride is simply when you think to much of yourself. We see also that fulness of bread was part of the problem. They were full and wanted nothing. No needs! No need for God! No need for each other! Lastly, they were abundantly idle. Doing nothing. No vision! The mixture of these three sins, in addition to the disregard for the poor, was the fatal potion for the fiery destruction of Sodom. Do these sins sound familiar? Yes! We see them in our nation, but first fix your own heart, then fix your own home. How can you hope rescue others if you are still drowning in sin?